Ally puts her bridesmaid dress in the bag and puts it up in the closet, as a way to keep it from getting ruined in any way before she wears it to Trish's wedding. She hears her phone going off in the pocket of her jeans. It's her dad, Lester Dawson, asking to FaceTime. Ally answers,
"Hi, Dad."
She sees he is in the hospital and she asks him,
"Dad! Are you OK?"
He says,
"Yeah. I had a kidney stone."
Lester has had a bevy of health issues in the last three years- diverticulitis, two heart attacks, a stroke, and now kidney stones. Actually, the kidney stones sound like the least scary thing he has had to deal with. He doesn't take care of himself very well at all- he has a drinking problem, abuses his medical marijuana, smokes cigarettes, and has high blood pressure and cholesterol. Ally loves her father dearly, and she knows he loves her, but he can be very stubborn and doesn't listen to her when she tells him that she wants him to take care of himself. She is surprised he can still walk, talk, and make decisions for himself.
"Do you need me to see you?"
she asks him.
"Only if you want to, Ally."
"I'm going down to see you now."
Ally hangs up, grabs her purse, and says,
"Austin! I'll be back later."
Austin is looking up flights to Havana on his computer and doing mental math.
"You're planning a vacation to Cuba without me?"
Austin says,
"Not exactly. I'm looking at ideas for Jace's bachelor party."
"Have you talked with him?"
"Not yet. But I'm thinking about a weekend in Havana or San Juan."
"Well, don't hire any strippers. You guys are gonna be drinking and I'm pretty sure Jace wants to stay faithful to Trish."
Austin laughs.
"Don't worry, there are no strippers hired. Anyway, where are you going?"
Ally says,
"My dad had a kidney stone. I'm going to the hospital to see him."
"Give him my regards."
Back at the hospital, Lester is in the hospital bed and he sees Ally, with his face lighting up.
"Hey, sweetie."
"Hi, Dad. How are you feeling?"
Lester says,
"It hurts when I urinate, I'm dehydrated and have to be given fluids through an IV. Other than that, I can't complain. What's new with you, Ally?"
"Well, Austin and I have been living together for a few months now, and I get to wake up in his arms every morning, Trish is getting married and I'm her maid of honor. I went with her and the rest of the bridal party to pick out dresses today."
"She's getting married? I would think you and Austin would have been first."
"We'll do it when it feels right to us. But Austin will be Jace's best man, and I'm his date."
"I remember when you and Trish wore princess dresses and had tea parties when you were in kindergarten, I think I blinked and now you're her maid of honor at her wedding. I think I'm invited, too."
"She invited you to the wedding?"
"Yes, she did. I think your mom is invited, too."
Ally's parents split up when she was nine, and it was tough on her. Despite the divorce, they still have an amicable relationship and still have a close relationship with Trish's parents.
"Cool."
Lester says,
"Ally, there's something I think you should know. Your mom and I are in a friends-with-benefits relationship."
Ally tries her utmost to not cringe at her dad having a sexual relationship with her mom, his ex-wife, and says,
"That's… nice."
Ally's mother is a biology instructor at the University of Miami and her father is a locomotive engineer. But at least her parents get along. One day she stumbled across her dad's profile on a hookup app and found out that he had a fair amount of casual sexual relationships. She always kept quiet about it because she felt it wasn't her business and the thought of her dad having sex with women who are similar ages to her, if not even younger than she is, makes her nauseous. As long as her dad doesn't knock a girl up and lie to her about it, good for him.
A nurse comes in, carrying a clipboard and he says,
"Hi, Lester. How are you feeling?"
Lester says,
"Pretty crappy."
"Who's this young lady here?"
Ally says,
"I'm his daughter."
The very next day, Jace is doing yet another at-home elliptical workout when his phone dings. His background graphic on his phone is one of the images from Kayleigh Spellman right after It's from his brother, Eric, of his four-year-old niece, Allegra, in a pink sleeveless dress and an off-the-shoulder detail with flowers, with a Bluey plush toy at her feet.
The photo is followed by a message that says,
Look who loves her flower girl dress!
Jace reacts with a love reaction to the photo and texts back,
She's so cute!
Eric replies with,
Being a flower girl at your wedding is all she seems to talk about right now lol.
Jace texts back,
Can you blame her? She's probably gonna steal the show lmao.
Jace is the third oldest of four brothers and he became an uncle at only sixteen. His brother Eric and sister-in-law Tina have four kids, an eleven-year-old son named Elijah, a ten-year-old son named Cyrus, an eight-year-old son named Mason, and Allegra is four years old and is the youngest child and the only girl of his oldest brothers' children. Trish was there for all of the births of his brothers' kids. Jace loves all of his brothers' kids, but has a particularly special relationship with his niece Allegra. Allegra is inquisitive, sweet, wise beyond her years, and is quite perceptive for a four-year-old. She loves Bluey, Disney Princess, Encanto, Minnie Mouse, PBS Kids shows, sensory toys, gymnastics, ballet class, reading, music, science, and animals.
Every time she sees him, the two have a special kiss-hug greeting, she tells him secrets, he plays with her, and bribes him with her secret stash of leftover Halloween candy (the kind without peanuts or peanut products as he is terribly allergic to peanuts) and Mott's Fruit Snacks to watch episodes of Bluey with her. She was the one who gave him the idea to propose to Trish, he heard her speak her first word, and he prompted her to say it, he helped her take her first steps, and she understands him, just as well, or maybe even better than he understands her.
Trish is sitting on the sofa, looking at her MacBook Pro, which is covered in a leopard print protective skin and stickers of her fandoms.
"Hey, gorgeous. What's that you're working on?"
Trish says,
"A bridal shower registry. My mom told me to send her, my sister, and Ally ideas for a bridal shower."
Jace seizes the opportunity to crack a small joke at her expense.
"I wonder if your bridal shower is gonna be like that scene in Bridesmaids when Annie loses her shit at the bridal shower and attacks the cookie and says, Look at that fucking cookie! God, that scene cracks me up."
Trish smirks and snorts.
"Ally has Austin, so she won't be like Annie, but my sister, it's possible. No, I'm shitting you. Valeria is a single mom, but she's financially stable and she has kids. Also, Ally and Valeria work pretty well together. All Helen did was steal Annie's thunder and try to steal her maid of honor position."
Jace's phone pings again.
"Austin just texted me. He wants to get me a ticket to Havana six months in advance."
"Havana? What for?"
"I'm assuming it's my bachelor party."
Trish says,
"Never assume."
Her fiancé rolls his eyes and sarcastically laughs, but also smiles.
"Assume? Haha, it makes an ass out of you and me."
She asks,
"Who else is going?"
He says,
"Well, we're in a group text with my dad, your dad, Dez, JJ, and my brothers. Austin said that Ally told him not to hire any strippers."
Trish laughs.
"Dez could make a good stripper though."
Jace adds,
"I also plan on limiting how much I drink. I don't like the idea of waking up with a hangover in bed next to a woman who is not you and not even knowing if I have a condom on my penis. Nor do I like doing something fucked up and not remembering it or who I did it with."
She laughs a bit.
"You're so sweet. But as long as you're sober and only allow strippers within a certain proximity of you, I have no problem with Austin hiring strippers at your bachelor party."
"You sure?"
"Don't worry. Just limit your drinking and have them within a certain proximity of you. Unless Dez decides to join the strippers."
Jace smiles at her.
"Dez is going to act like a stripper at my bachelor party. I know that for damn sure. But I'll tell Austin you permitted me to hire strippers."
Trish is making a Google Document with a registry of bridal gifts, from beauty items, Blissy silk pillowcases, wine glasses, champagne glasses, champagne flutes, jewelry, a Keurig coffee maker, and many others. Not only does her sister have one, but she and Jace's coffee maker is on its deathbed. She needs coffee to keep up with rowdy high schoolers and doesn't want to spend money on coffee all the time. Coffee in the staff lounge is decent, but sometimes her colleagues are "too busy" to make it themselves.
At work the next day, Trish knocks on the door to Simmons' office. She hears him say,
"Come in."
He says,
"There's my favorite student-turned-coworker!"
She says,
"Hi, Simmons. I have a request."
He asks her,
"What is it?"
She says,
"You're catholic, right?"
"I do go to church, I love god, I believe in god, so yes, I'm catholic. What's up?"
Trish says,
"Jace and I are getting married, and goddamn it, I have the butterflies just talking about it. We would like you to officiate the ceremony."
The wrestling coach and physical education teacher's face lights up.
"I'd be honored to. It seems like only yesterday he was wrestling and running track, and you were in the bleachers watching him, Trish."
"I got to support him and also ogle at him. It was more often than not the highlight of my week in high school."
"Some of the boys on the wrestling team nowadays could learn a thing or two from Jace about their locker room talk and how to look at women with respect. I cringe at how some of them talk about women and people who are LGBTQIA+."
She blushes and giggles.
"I couldn't agree more. Jace is a manly man, he's into working out and he's athletic, but he's good-natured and romantic. He earned the nickname 'Dad' by my girlfriends and by Dez for a reason."
Simmons says,
"Yes. Yes, he did. I remember hearing Ally and all those other girls you hung out with gush over him and call him a Dad."
"He still is into working out. He does intensive workouts at home every day and let's just say, if we had a Venmo account linked to the number of times strangers asked us if he used steroids, we'd be in a bougie ass penthouse."
The coach laughs and then she holds out her phone.
"He sent me this when I got on the bus to go to work."
Trish shows her teacher-turned-colleague a shirtless photo that her fiancé sent her with a message that says,
Have a good day at work, Sweetness.
"Wow. He's jacked."
"He is. He's a great cuddler and I always feel so safe sleeping in his arms. Just between us, sometimes I have to remind him to hydrate after. He appreciates me for it."
"He needs you."
Trish says,
"I also picked out my wedding dress, my bridesmaids' dresses, my niece's flower girl dress, and my nephew's tuxedo because I asked him to be the ring bearer."
while simultaneously pulling her phone from her pocket, and showing him photos of Ally, Valeria, Carrie, Piper, and Kira during the brunch and also goofing around in the bridal shop.
"On Saturday, my sister, my grandmother, and my mom treated me, my bridesmaids, and my niece and nephew to a bougie brunch and they took me to get my wedding dress. It was a lot of fun."
Simmons chuckles.
"Why do these girls look so familiar?"
Trish laughs.
"Because they all went to this school. Ally and my sister are sharing the maid of honor duties. You're going to see them stand out at the wedding."
Later during work, her dad, Eduardo, and her dad's partner, Sean Washington, who are part of the Miami Police Department Special Victims Unit, and the administration team, Lydia Gatlin, Michael Cochran, and Brent Warner. Her dad walks in and says,
"Lamento mucho lo que has pasado, mija. Siempre estaré aquí para ti."
She says,
"Thank you, Daddy. I love you. Jace has been very supportive and loving with me throughout this, too. It's retraumatizing for me."
Sean pipes in.
"Who's Jace?"
Eduardo tells him.
"Jace is her fiancé."
Sean says,
"Aww, Trish, it seems like only yesterday you were that little girl going on ride-alongs, and now you're engaged. Congratulations."
She shows off her ring. Sean says,
"Your fiancé can really pick them."
Trish says,
"Yes, he can."
She sits down with the Marino High administration team and the cops and Eduardo asks them,
"We heard there was a lockdown at this school the preceding week."
Trish says,
"Yes, there was. Someone was here on campus with a gun. To be honest, I had a thought that crossed my mind. Chuck McCoy, a former schoolmate of mine, sexually assaulted me when I was fifteen, and I got a call that he was released from prison. I don't know for sure, and I could be wrong, but my gut is telling me that he is."
*FLASHBACK. Trish is 15 years old and in her bra and panties and hogtied while she hears a police siren outside. Chuck forcibly takes her down and then tries to lock her in the bathroom of the abandoned motel he is taking her hostage in. Miami Special Victims Unit police officers Eduardo De La Rosa and Sean Washington, with two other police officers, park the car outside of the abandoned motel room where Chuck took Trish hostage in*
Sean and Eduardo both forcibly knock on the door.
"MIAMI PD. OPEN UP. OPEN UP,"
Eduardo shouts out. Chuck knows his goose is cooked.
"We have an ABP and we were able to track Trish De La Rosa's cell phone near here."
Chuck says,
"I don't know where she is. I think she escaped."
Sean aggressively looks at Chuck.
"I don't think she escaped. I think you hid her somewhere in this motel room so you know where she is."
Eduardo looks around the motel and it's not long before he finds his daughter, half-naked, gagged with duck tape, and hogtied. Her body is covered in bruises, abrasions, and rug burns. He is genuinely shocked and angry at the state he just found his younger daughter in. Not at her, but about what happened to her.
"Mi corazón!"
He rips the tape off of her mouth, unties her, and calls on his walky-talky,
"Garcia and Clark, Sean and I need backup. We found the suspect and my daughter."
Trish instantly starts crying. She sobs,
"Daddy, I want to get out of here. My vagina hurts."
"I know, mi amor. We'll get out soon."
She finds her clothes and her school bag by the bed she was restrained on and puts them on. Officer Elena Garcia and Officer Brian Clark enter the room and hold up their badges and Chuck is pinned to the wall by the door and is cuffed. Garcia says,
"Charles McCoy, you're under arrest for the rape and kidnapping of Patricia De La Rosa."
Clark adds.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you."
*Flashback ends*
Trish can feel her anxiety surging, but she's going to do what she has to. She remembers her therapist showing her the 4-7-8 technique, so she does just that.
Eduardo asks her,
"Mija, I know this might be upsetting for you, so if you need to step away at any point, just say so."
"OK."
She touches the engagement ring on her finger. Even just staring at it or touching it makes her feel safe and calm and makes her feel like Jace is right next to her even when he's not physically there.
Elsewhere, Jace just finished installing a new refrigerator at Cake Couture, a women-owned bakery in Coral Gables, and takes out his inhaler from the pocket of his jeans. The owner of the bakery asks,
"You alright?"
He says,
"Yeah, I'm cool. I have asthma. I can breathe now."
Jace glances for a bit at the menu of cakes and asks the owner,
"Do you do cake tastings?"
She says,
"Yes, as a matter of fact, we do."
"I think I might want to bring my sweetheart here so we can pick out a flavor for our wedding cake."
He pulls his wallet from his pocket and shows the owner a picture he has of Trish blowing a kiss.
"She's very pretty."
Jace says,
"I know. She is."
She shows him an iPad with cake-tasting appointments and he does just that, confirming for a 6:00 PM cake tasting. She asks him,
"Do you or your fiancée have allergies or any dietary restrictions?"
"I have a deathly allergy to peanuts. Other than that, I'm good. So is my fiancée."
When Trish returns to the apartment, she slumps down on the Davenport, sighing, cuing Jace to get her a bottle of wine. He asks her,
"You OK?"
She says,
"We started the investigation today for that lockdown at the school. My gut instinct is telling me that Chuck is the one who showed up at my job with a gun."
Jace sits down next to his wife-to-be.
"I'm so sorry, mi amor."
She says,
"I'm just scared. Scared that he knows where I live, where I work, and could do what he did to me again, or worse, he could try to hurt you, Jace."
Jace kisses her cheek.
"No matter what happens, I'm here. I'm not going to let him anywhere near you. If I ever see Chuck in public, I'll fuck him up."
Trish quietly chuckles.
"He's already fucked up.
Jace says,
"You have a point."
"But it wasn't terrible. I asked Simmons to officiate our wedding ceremony."
"Simmons? Like Coach Simmons, who used to be my wrestling coach?"
"How many Simmonses do you know?"
He says,
"I have another surprise for you as well. I installed a refrigerator at a Bakery in Coral Gables, and I swung us a cake tasting tomorrow at 6:00 PM."
She smiles.
"I'm totally going to cake your face."
Jace says,
"People with glass houses shouldn't throw stones because I'm going to cake yours."
He takes a sip of wine and takes some of Trish's hair, folding it behind her ear.
"Is it just me or do you look really pretty right now?"
She kisses his cheek and she says,
"I can always count on you to give me affirmations about how I look."
He tells her,
"I could stare into your eyes forever."
She plants a kiss on his cheek.
"You're very sweet."
The next night, the couple end up having pizza together and the Cake Couture is on the way. The owner of the bakery is there and she asks,
"Is she the lucky lady?"
Trish blushes.
"Hell yes!"
The owner says,
"I have our best slices here for the beautiful couple."
She whispers to Jace,
"You told her about your anaphylactic peanut allergies, yeah?"
He whispers,
"Yes, of course."
The owner says,
"We have vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, lemon, red velvet, and tres leches. None of them have peanuts."
Jace says,
"Thank you, ma'am."
Trish tries the strawberry cake, covered in vanilla icing.
"This one's pretty good."
She cuts it with the fork and feeds it to Jace.
"You like?"
"I do."
He picks up the sample of chocolate cake and sticks his pinky in the chocolate icing and streaks Trish's cheek with it. She laughs and says,
"Jace Dillon! I know you didn't just cover my face with icing!"
In retaliation, she picks up the lemon cake and sticks her finger in the icing, covering part of Jace's jaw with it. He says,
"It's like we're married already."
The couple proceeds to eat more of the cake samples and passionately make out.
"Trish, remember at your sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth birthday when I covered your face with the icing from your birthday cake and then we made out?"
Trish laughs.
"You know I do. Ally was gushing over it."
"Of course, Ally was gushing over it. She's your best friend and she loves love."
Trish giggles.
"We're never going to grow out of that, are we?"
Jace says,
"Maybe after the wedding. If we can keep it away from the kids, like our nieces and nephews, and well, Dez if he decides to take his marijuana gummies during the ceremony or the reception, before we cut the cake, then maybe it'll be an old habits die hard kind of thing."
She laughs and the couple proceeds to kiss again. Jace asks,
"What cake should we decide on?"
Trish says,
"I'm thinking Vanilla cake, with vanilla icing."
He says,
"I love that."
The couple proceeds to make out passionately and the store owner watches and says,
"You two are going to be so happy together, I can tell."
Chapter 6 down! I hope you guys liked that chapter! Funny enough, I'm going to a wedding this weekend lmao. I'm sorry this chapter took a little longer, Writer's block struck with no warning. I also plan on writing an Auslly-centered fic along with this one!
If you like this fic remember to follow, favorite, and review! Love you my readers!